A1 front page of The Vancouver Sun for March 24, 1962 with the headline 59 top Freedomites Seized in Mass Raid and Threaten to Strip Girl Reporter, which refers to Vancouver Sun reporter Simma Holt. Holt, whose stories on the Doukhobor problem have been blamed for the crackdown, stood her ground.Vancouver Sun Files
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Vancouver Sun reporter Simma Holt autographs a copy of her book, Terror in the Name of God, while the book's publisher Jack McClelland looks on, at a party launching the book at Lotus Gardens. Also pictured: Former B.C. attorney general Robert Bonner. Photo published October 31, 1964.Dan Scott
/ Vancouver Sun

Judges in the Vancouver Sun's "Vacation from Marriage" contest sort through letters from Vancouver housewives. The winner will receive a trip to Hollywood. From left to right, the judges are Helen Effinger, women's editor, The Vancouver Sun; Frank Rasky, feature writer; and Simma Milner - later Simma Holt - rewrite editor. Photo published April 3, 1946.Vancouver Sun Files
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Simma Holt, a journalist, author and former member of the House of Commons, died in Vancouver Friday at the age of 92.

Holt, the sixth of eight children, was born as Simma Milner in Vegreville, Alberta, attended the University of Manitoba, and joined The Vancouver Sun in 1944, where she worked for 30 years as a reporter, feature writer and columnist.

In 1949 she married Vancouver teacher Leon Holt, and they remained married until his death in 1985.

Holt, one of several female journalists who stormed the then-male bastion of newspapers, was elected to the House of Commons in 1974 as the Liberal candidate for Vancouver Kingsway, but was defeated in 1979. She was the first Jewish woman elected to Parliament.

Holt gained a reputation as a tough reporter when she covered the traditionally male waterfront and crime beats.

But she was also known as having a soft heart, and her interest in forgotten and abused children led to numerous stories.

"My father once said that because I had no children, the children of the world must be mine," said Holt in 1996. "So when I saw kids who had no future and lived in a Tobacco Road atmosphere in the middle of nowhere and nobody cared, I had to write about it.''

In 1996, Holt — who also served a four-year term on the National Parole Board — was inducted into the Order of Canada, which recognizes "outstanding achievement and service in various fields of human endeavours."

"I always wanted to help people," said Holt at the time. "You can't change the whole world, but you can change one person at a time."

She joked that the timing of awards like the Order of Canada disturbed her.

"I think they think you're going to die,'' she laughed. "But I'm going to fool them and be around and be obnoxious for another 30 to 40 years.''

Holt campaigned for women's rights, but struggled in the early days of her career as one of few women in a newsroom full of men. "It was harder for a woman, but it made you work twice as hard.''

In 1996, Holt was also inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame — the first female journalist in B.C. to receive the distinction.

Holt wrote several books: Terror in the Name of God: The Story of the Sons of Freedom Doukhobors (1964), a history of the Doukhobors in B.C.; Sex and the Teen Age Revolution (1967), a study of the problems faced by young people especially in foster homes and the correctional system; The Devil's Butler (1972), about the drug explosion and the hippy scene and the depravities and murders committed by the Satan's Angels motorcycle gang; The Other Mrs. Diefenbaker (1982), a biography on Edna Diefenbaker; and Memoirs of a Loose Cannon (2008), a personal memoir.

After purchasing what turned out to be one of Vancouver's notorious "leaky condos" in 1999, Holt waged a lengthy legal action seeking compensation for repairs.

In recent years, Holt lived at Seton Villa Seniors' Centre in Burnaby.

"She was fearless," recalled former B.C. Supreme Court Justice Nancy Morrison, who became a longtime friend of Holt's after meeting her in 1970.

"She was a friend for any underdog and that's why I called her 'the court of last resort'."

Morrison recalled Holt, as a court reporter, taking up the cause of prostitutes at a time when few reporters would.

She referred to Holt as a "crusading investigative journalist who was afraid of no one."

Holt, who also worked on U.S. president George Bush Sr.'s campaign, was very well known for her reporting on the Sons of Freedom Doukhobors.

In her book Terror in the Name of God, Holt wrote unabashedly about her disdain for the group describing their world as amoral and violent.

Holt summed up their presence in Canada amounting to an insoluble and, at times, untenable problem, describing the B.C. government's seizing of the children several decades ago as "one courageous rescue attempt."

In 2006, Holt took strong issue with former mayor Sam Sullivan after Falun Gong supporters accused him of trying to stifle basic freedoms to improve trade relations with China when city hall tried to get a court order to force Falun Gong to dismantled a shack and signs on city property in front of the Chinese consulate on Granville Street.

The group claims China persecutes its members to the point of executing them and harvesting their organs for transplants.

Holt at the time compared China's actions with those of Nazi Germany. "There is genocide going on and the mayor is supporting genocide rather than the people of this city," she said.

Morrison recently visited Holt in a hospice, where she recalled her friend was still very aware about the latest news.

"She was discussing what's happening in Paris, Saudi Arabia and Israel. And she never lost her passion for people and for what's fair and right."

Former Vancouver Sun columnist and author Lisa Hobbs, now Lisa Koerner, worked with Holt at the Sun in the 1970s and the two remained friends.

"Working with her was like working in the eye of a hurricane," said Koerner of Holt. "There's not enough adjectives to describe her. She loved investigating stories and went after information like a hungry shark. She collected enormous amounts of information, but had difficulty cutting it down to a printable size."

Koerner said Holt was a very generous and humorous woman who "squeezed every drop of fun out of life. She had a huge heart, but could be a fierce enemy."

Holt's career at The Vancouver Sun is legendary, with one incident involving an enraged Holt charging up to Jack Scott at the city desk, angry at her copy being changed.

Scott fled in panic to the men's bathroom and locked himself in a cubicle. Holt followed, stood on the throne in the adjoining booth, and beat him over the head.

One newsroom veteran said Holt's reporting style "made her subjects feel like a cannibal had saved them from drowning."

Holt recalled that she once told her husband, "if I ever had to choose him or journalism, it would be journalism. How I loved it!''

"Before she died, the assisted living facility she lived in had a practice of putting out a notice whenever a resident died that always said that so and so had passed away peacefully. Simma left strict orders to me and a number of others that we were never to permit that to be said of her. I said 'don't worry, you've never done anything peacefully in your life'. She was obviously a unique individual who touched a lot of people's lives."

Services will be held at Schara Tzedeck cemetery, 2345 Marine Drive 201, New Westminster at 2 p.m. on Sunday. In lieu of flowers, people are being asked to donate to the B.C. Cancer Foundation, with the request that the donation go to the Centre for Lymphoid Cancers at the BC Cancer Agency.

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